Prior to departing from Andy and Jennifer's, I had a quick breakfast and said my goodbyes. Today's ride was going to be longer than the past couple of days, so getting an earlier start was necessary. I flew downhill toward downtown Traverse City, where I connected to the Traverse Area Recreation Trail. This would connect me to state highway 71 (MI-72), which I rode on toward Empire, MI.
The first two and a half miles of MI-72 was a gradual 450ft climb away from the bay that Traverse City was nestled in. I'm unsure of what the grade was, but trucks were laboring up the hill. When out of the bay, it quickly became foggy and it would remain this way for several hours. Even though this area was a plateau, it wasn't necessarily flat; there were rolling hills across much of this area. As I rode closer to Empire, there were a few stretches of road that were under construction, and using some caution this was easily navigated. Surprisingly, in my experience, construction workers/flaggers are really accommodating and have always allowed me proceed without any hassle.
MI-72 begins to gradually descend toward Empire with the final two miles going by in a flash. I stopped briefly at the Robert H. Manning Memorial Lighthouse. While it didn't appear to be open for tours, simply checking out the exterior of the lighthouse was intriguing to me. It's fascinating to look back on an era where lighthouses played a crucial role in providing navigational aid to ships. After chowing on some food, I headed southward on state highway 22 (MI-22), which is widely regarded as one of the most scenic highways in Michigan. People enjoy this road enough that theft of the highway's signs along its route motivated the sign being altered (removing the iconic "M" above the route number) to combat theft. I'm not one of those people; rather, I enjoyed the nice shoulder that the highway offered. Stretches of this highway were very hilly as it weaved toward and away from Lake Michigan.
I arrived at Point Betsie lighthouse, and despite being late morning a dense fog still covered the area without a sign of sunlight cutting through this cloak. It was somewhat windy and chilly, so moving on to stay warm was an easy decision. I rode onward to Frankfort, where I had lunch in a park along Betsie Lake. It was after noon, and the unrelenting fog persisted as I continued riding southward on MI-22. It was a generous climb south out of Frankfort, but I continued to enjoy the wide shoulder of the highway. Shortly after departing Frankfort, the fog suddenly lifted and it was a sunny day. How quickly mother nature can flip the switch from dull and gloomy to bright and pleasant. The timing couldn't be better, because I was getting close to a scenic overlook of Lake Michigan named Inspiration Point. The views here reminded me of the bluffs along Tunnel of Trees. The highest point of the overlook had to be a couple hundred feet above the lake.
At this point, the wind hadn't been a factor during today's ride and shortly after leaving Inspiration Point, a steady tailwind favored me for the remainder of the ride toward Onekama. When riding along MI-22, a young girl on a bicycle in a driveway saw me and declared, "hey biker," and I waved back to her. When I arrived in Onekama, I was ready for a meal prior to concluding today's ride at Orchard Beach State Park, so I had a meal at Shirley's Place. It was definitely a no frills atmosphere, which is most suiting for me after riding a bicycle for hours. I enjoyed their pollack and in short time was back on the road for Orchard Beach State Park.
When I arrived at Orchard Beach State Park, I set up camp, dozed for an hour, and briefly explored the beach. While the views along the beach were alright, this compact state park's primary purpose seemed to be camping and nothing much beyond that. A simple overnight at a state park, unlike tomorrow's overnight which proved to be more complicated.
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